6 3 2 AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS 



certain renters were willing to pay something in addition to the third 

 and fourth, soon began to demand the bonus, and there are now com- 

 munities in which it would be difficult to place the responsibility for 

 this bonus system. There has been recently a great deal of discussion 

 concerning the iniquities of the bonus system. We shall not at this 

 time enter into a discussion of the economic justness of the bonus, but 

 devote our space to the words of the farmers who have written us 

 concerning its payment. 



Falls County. Will say that at least 65 per cent pay a bonus in first one 

 way or another. Some pay in the way of high prices for dead old stock, 



and old second-hand tools and wagons They want to sell you a lot 



of high-priced stuff and rent to you, some the third all round, and some 

 $i . oo per acre bonus for the privilege of letting you work clean land. This 

 is mostly in the western part of Falls County, but sometimes it occurs in 

 the mixed land, and in very rare cases it is the case in the sand. I myself 

 have failed to get a place because I refused to pay standing rents. I per- 

 sonally know one man who pays $100 bonus on 117 acres, and has been 

 [doing so] for three years. I know another man who has five rent houses 

 and works all on halves and requires them to pay a blacksmith's bill, and 

 give him half the cotton and all the feed. I have known him for seven 

 years, and he has never had a vacant house. 



Milam County. The renters started the bonus in Texas themselves. 

 I remember when the third and fourth was all the go and the renter thought 

 he was paying too much, and he got the landowner to take money rent. 

 Then the weevil came and the renter wanted the third and fourth again. 

 He got it, then he began to pay a bonus to get the best homes and best land 

 and matters got so tight for him he wanted to pass laws to stop the bonus, 

 something he was to blame for himself. The tenants are to blame for most 

 of their disasters. I know for I have rented out land myself. 



Navarro County. Fabulous prices have been paid for teams all over the 

 county in order to rent places. I have known men to sell their teams and 

 buy from landlords in order to get places. 



D. Land Values 



200. THE CAPITALIZATION OF RENT 1 

 BY RICHARD T. ELY 



To the individual who has a certain amount of money for which 

 he is seeking the most profitable use, the question whether he shall 

 invest it in land or other form of production goods is apt to be in itself 



1 Adapted from Outlines of Economics, pp. 359-60. (Copyright by The 

 Macmillan Co.) 



